Kinsey

Kinsey (2004) is about Alfred Kinsey, the biologist who first recorded American sexual behaviour systematically in the 1940s. Kinsey began as an expert on wasps and applied that same taxonomic patience to people. He conducted thousands of interviews, asked without judging, and the results shook the country because they exposed the gap between what people did and what they said. The film does not build a hero narrative. Kinsey's own life migrates into his research, his marriage strains, and the boundaries with his team blur. Bill Condon neither excuses this nor turns it into scandal. Liam Neeson plays a cold and obsessive man without trying to make him likeable. Laura Linney as his wife is the emotional centre of the film and was nominated for an Oscar for it. The interview scenes are the strongest material, particularly Lynn Redgrave's single scene near the end. Good for: biographical drama, the history of science, and stories about social taboo. Less good for: sex is discussed explicitly and constantly, and childhood abuse comes up. Not a film to watch with family.